


Best Beloveds

by woodelf



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23448925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodelf/pseuds/woodelf
Summary: Gideon's having a bad day. His papa makes it better.
Relationships: Belle & Gideon & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Best Beloveds

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt for a-monthly-rumbelling: "Bad day, drinks, cuddling"

“Hey. How’s Gideon?” Gold leaned in to kiss Belle. It was strange not to be greeted by the patter of small feet running to greet him when he got home from work. He missed it. He glanced further into the house, where he could hear the sound of a cartoon playing on the TV. 

“He only threw up once more after we got home from school, and it wasn’t very much. I think it was just something he ate.” Belle looked guilty. “I knew that lunchmeat was starting to smell a bit off, but Gideon said it smelled fine to him.”

“Well, no harm done if that’s all it was. Did you throw the rest out?”

“I used it up on his sandwich. So yeah, it’s gone. He’s kept down some ginger ale and crackers, and I’ve got some Jell-o chilling in the fridge. He’s upset about Parsley, though.”

“Parsley?” Gold looked blank for a moment before remembering that was the name of the first grade classroom’s guinea pig. “Ah, this was supposed to his weekend to bring her home, wasn’t it?” Gideon had been looking forward to it all week. 

Belle nodded. “He didn’t think about it until he started feeling better and the school had already closed for the day, so I couldn’t call and ask about her. He’s afraid she’s still sitting there in the classroom with no one to look after her over the weekend. I told him the teacher probably let the next child in line take her this weekend, and he would get the next, but he’s still worried.”

Of course he was. Gideon loved animals fiercely, and when he’d found a mud-covered stray on the way home from school earlier in the year, there had only been one possible outcome. Going into the living room, Gold saw the white-and-brown Jack Russell Terrier curled up loyally besides the little boy ensconced on the sofa with a coloring book and crayons. Gideon was half-heartedly filling in a picture, glancing between it and the TV. 

“Hey, Gideon. Heard you had a rough day.” Gold picked up Jack (it had seemed like a perfectly reasonable name to Gideon once he had been informed of the breed) and moved him so that he could sit down next to his son. Jack promptly scrambled back over Gold’s lap and wedged himself in between Gideon and the arm of the couch, the boy automatically putting an arm around him. 

“Hi, Papa,” Gideon said forlornly. “I was sick in school. All over my desk.”

“That’s no fun. But you’re feeling better now, yes?”

“I guess. But this was supposed to be my weekend for taking Parsley home!”

“Wouldn’t you rather have her here when you’re feeling better?”

“But what if I’ve lost my turn and I never get the chance to have her?” Gideon protested. “What if they had to leave her at the school because I got sick? She’ll be all alone and scared and hungry!”

Belle came over and perched on the arm of the couch, stroking Gideon’s soft brown hair. “I’ve told you that Mrs. Benson wouldn’t leave her at the school more than overnight. She’s the one who takes Parsley home for the summer and for school holidays, you know.” She glanced at Gold. “Do you think Snow would have Mrs. Benson’s phone number? I think Gideon needs to hear from her that Parsley is all right.”

“She might, but I should have it myself. She’s one of my tenants; I’ll go check the rental agreement.” He got up and bent to press a kiss to Gideon’s head. “I’ll be right back; the papers are in my office.”

He returned in a few minutes with a scrap of paper on which he’d copied the number and sat back down next to Gideon, Gideon putting his colouring book and crayons down and climbing up onto his knees, leaning into his father’s shoulder with something of his usual animation returning. Gold put his left arm around Gideon’s waist to steady him and punched in the numbers. 

“Mrs. Benson?…Yes, hello, this is Mr. Gold, Gideon’s father…yes, he’s doing better, we think it was just something he ate. The thing is, this was supposed to be the weekend he was supposed to bring Parsley home, and he’s worried about her…All right, hold on a second.” Gold took the phone away from his ear and hit a button. “You’re on speakerphone now.”

“Hi, Gideon, I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better,” came Mrs. Benson’s voice, and Gideon nearly bounced in place. 

“Hi, Mrs. Benson! Where’s Parsley?”

“Kimmy was able to take her home this weekend. She was next on the list, and her parents were fine with Parsley paying a visit a week early. You can have her next weekend instead.”

“Yay!” Gideon cheered, his eyes sparkling once again. 

“That was very thoughtful of you to be concerned about Parsley when you weren’t feeling well, Gideon. You’re one of her best caretakers, I know. You never even mind cleaning out her cage. You should be very proud of your son, Mr. Gold.”

Gold squeezed Gideon fondly. “I am.”

“We both are,” Belle agreed. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Benson; we’ll let you go now.”

“You’re welcome. Bye, Gideon; I hope you feel better soon!”

“Bye, Mrs. Benson!” Catching his master’s improved mood, Jack leapt to the ground and turned a circle, barking. 

Belle laughed. “I can see that you’re feeling better already, Gideon.” She picked up the empty plastic cup with the straw on the end table. “Would you like some more ginger ale?”

“Yes, please,” he said promptly. 

“How about you, Rumpel? Would you like a drink?” She headed back towards the kitchen. 

“I wouldn’t say no to an iced tea.” Gold stood up and shed his coat and loosened his tie, pulling it off and laying it aside with his coat. “Do you need any help with dinner?”

“No, I’m all set.” Belle poured the two drinks. “Green beans are already washed and ready for the steamer, and the noodles can cook at the same time. And it’ll just take five minutes to grill up the pork chops when they’re nearly done. We can split Gideon’s, since he won’t be having it.”

“Can I have some noodles?” asked Gideon. He didn’t mind missing the green beans and pork chops, but he liked noodles. 

“I’ll put aside a portion for you to have tomorrow if you don’t get sick again,” Belle promised. “Today you can have your Jell-o, and some broth and crackers, or toast and apple sauce.”

“Can I have the Jell-o first?” Gideon reached for the cup that his papa passed him. He’d shut the TV off; none of his favourite shows were on right now anyway.

“Yes, you may, as soon as the rest of dinner is ready.”

“Okay,” said Gideon agreeably. “Sit with me, Papa? Read me a story?”

“Speaking of stories,” Gold said with a secret smile, and went to his briefcase, opening it up to reveal a bag with a logo of a green frog wearing a yellow crown. “I brought you a present, since you got sick.”

“A new book?” Gideon asked excitedly. The Enchanted Frog was Storybrooke’s children’s store, and despite the many books that he checked out from the library, he loved having ones of his own that he didn’t have to return. 

“A new book,” Gold confirmed, sitting back down beside his son and giving the bag to Gideon, watching as his little boy drew the book out. 

“Just So Stories,” Gideon read, “By – “ he hesitated. Ys were tricky; sometimes they were vowels and sometimes they were consonants. He took a guess. “– Rudy-ard Kipling?”

“Rud-yard,” Gold corrected. “Rudyard Kipling.”

A consonant this time, then. Gideon looked at the main picture on the front, of an elephant whose trunk was being tugged at by the snout of a crocodile surfacing from a river. “Are they all animal stories?” he asked hopefully.

“They are indeed. Would you like to hear one?”

“Yes, please.” Gideon passed him back the book and snuggled into his side, sipping contentedly on his ginger ale. Gold took a drink of his iced tea and then set it on the coffee table and leaned back, wrapping one arm around Gideon and opening the book to the first chapter.

“ _How The Whale Got His Throat_ ,” Gold read. “ _In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a whale, and he ate fishes.”_

By the time the first timer in the kitchen went off, Gideon had migrated onto his lap, his head resting against Gold’s shoulder, a warm, solid, comforting weight, and they were just finishing ‘How the Camel Got His Hump’. Jack had dozed off on the cushion next to them, his furry body pressed close against Gold’s thigh. He cherished the moment, wondered how long it would be before Gideon outgrew lap cuddles. 

“All right, time to wash up for dinner,” he said, closing the book. “And help your mother set the table. We can read more before bedtime.”

“Okay.” Gideon stirred and stretched, then scrambled down off the couch, bending over and hunching his back as he headed for the bathroom. “Humph,” he snorted. “Humph, humph.” Jack trotted after him. 

Gold laughed and got up, finishing his drink and picking up Gideon’s cup and carrying them both into the kitchen, where Belle was draining the noodles into a colander. “I’ll be right back to help,” he promised. “Gotta make sure our young camel is washing his hands.” He met Gideon coming out of the bathroom. 

“Hand inspection!” Gold said briskly. 

Gideon promptly held out his hands with the confidence of a boy who has used soap, and Rumpel took them in his own, glancing at the nails and then sniffing both sides. “Hand inspection passed.” He saluted. “You may proceed to the kitchen.”

Gideon giggled and saluted back as he ran into the kitchen. “I’ll get Jack’s food.” He opened the pantry and opened the container that held the bag of dog food.

“All right, but no petting him; you’ve just washed your hands.” Gideon really was amazingly responsible when it came to looking after Jack; he rarely forgot to feed him before sitting down to dinner himself. Belle waited until he’d dumped the scooperful of food into Jack’s bowl and handed him the plate on which she’d just unmolded his cherry Jell-o. “Here you go, you can start with this if you like.”

Gideon took it to his place at the table, and climbed up onto his chair. Before long his parents had joined him, and, having confirmed that he wanted more, he had a bowl of broth and some goldfish crackers to move onto as he finished the Jell-o. 

“Papa,” he asked, having been thinking. “Am I your Best Beloved?” He began carefully arranging a circle of goldfish around the edge of his soup bowl, nose to tail, until they met. 

“You are indeed, didn’t you hear me say so?”

“But what about Mama?”

“She’s my Best Beloved too, you can have more than one of them.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Gideon looked relieved. “I was afraid I would have to choose. Can I have three?” 

“Of course. Who’s the third?”

Gideon looked amazed that he had to ask. “Well, there’s you and Mama.” He looked down at the terrier who was at his usual place beside Gideon’s chair, having already polished off his own dinner and hoping for something to be dropped, either accidentally or on purpose. While Papa had discouraged feeding Jack anything at the table, saying it would teach him to beg for more and bother the people who hadn’t scarfed their food down in less than a minute, Gideon had bargained. Thus, the rule was now that Jack was allowed one piece of people food per meal, as long as it wasn’t on the list of things that weren’t safe for dogs that was attached to the fridge at Gideon’s eye-level. He had it memorised, but he still sometimes looked at it as he went past just in case he ever forgot anything. He knew crackers weren’t very good for dogs but green beans were. He stretched to grab one from the bowl and reached down to offer it to Jack, holding it out on his open palm. Jack took it gently with a “thank you” wag of his tail. Jack was a very polite dog.

“And Jack, of course.”


End file.
